By Kim Tae-gyu, Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporters


President Roh Moo-hyun Monday expressed his support for Prof. Hwang Woo-suk in an international controversy over his work that was calming down after MBC television station failed to substantiate its allegations that Hwang’s research results were fabricated.

``We’ll continue to support Professor Hwang. We hope he will return to his research lab soon for the sake of people with physical difficulties and the public,’’ Roh was quoted by the presidential office as saying. Roh’s statement came after MBC officially apologized on Sunday for the unethical conduct of its program directors during its investigations into Hwang’s research.

Following MBC’s on-air apology, Hwang’s top lieutenant said no experiments or tests will be carried out to verify the authenticity of their patient-specific stem cells.

``We will demonstrate our stem cell research is genuine via follow-up papers or study instead of conducting any tests or experiments,’’ Prof. Lee Byeong-cheon of Seoul National University said. ``So we will channel our efforts solely into stem cell research in the future.’’

The broadcaster had raised doubts over the authenticity of Hwang’s exploit of establishing stem cell lines genetically tailored to patients based on its own test results and urged him to cooperate in a second test.

MBC’s call for a second test gained little support as a growing number of experts took issue with the reliability of the initial tests the television network commissioned and used to support the assertion that Hwang’s achievement was doctored.

Adding to MBC’s credibility crisis was a revelation that staffers of ``PD Notebook,’’ the network’s investigative magazine, threatened Hwang’s associates on temporary duty in the United States to gain unfavorable information about the stem cell scientist.

The revelation was made by the all-news cable TV YTN, airing interviews with Hwang’s associates who argued that the PD Notebook team blackmailed them and distorted their remarks. The YTN report derailed MBC’s position, pushing the station to apologize on its prime time new program and to postpone indefinitely the screening of the second part of PD Notebook’s report on Hwang scheduled for Tuesday.

The People’s Organization for Just Science & Technology, a civic group, also announced yesterday that scientists should deal with the issue instead of TV program producers.

Park Se-pill, head of the Seoul-based infertility institute MariaBiotech, concurs. He harvested human stem cells from frozen embryos in 2000 for the third time in history.

``Should Hwang’s team or another overseas group repeat the creation of customized stem cells or make further breakthroughs enabled by the technology, that will prove everything. Scientists have such self-verification abilities,’’ Park said.

The government is expected to come up with proper measures to bring an end to the Hwang controversy and normalize Hwang’s research activities at the general meeting of the National Bioethics Committee on Dec. 16.

Well-informed sources say Hwang will return to his lab this week. He is currently staying at a relative’s house in Kyonggi Province under police protection.

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